Hardware First Look: Asus P5Q3 & Maximus II Formula

http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/2008/05/16/first-look-asus-p5q3-maximus-ii-formula/1

We take a quick first look at the new Asus P45-based Republic of Gamer motherboard: the Maximus II Formula. We also have a look at the company's new feature packed P5Q3 Deluxe WiFi-AP @n to see what's hot, what's green and if it's potentially worth the upgrade.

 

Damn the Maximus II Formula is one hell of a handsome brute of a board.

 

I agree, they look awesome and to the ASUS standard they are way too expensive. DFI all the way.

 

Those boards look really nice, but I'm sure that they're going to cost an arm and a leg...

 

that is one mint looking piece of kit!

There's two voices argueing in my head right now... a female voice is just.. well.. talking a lot, and the male voice demands to know where the female has hidden the wallet.

 

well the P5Q3 is to be pre-ordered from oc's for £160 which is fair for a new high range board, but no sign of the maximus formula 2, but i reckon it'll see the £250 mark.

it looks sexy....one thing i probably thought i'd never say about a mobo.

peace

fatman

 

I have to agree, that does look awesome!
I would love to know what this little wire is though:
http://images.bit-tech.net/content_images/2008/05/first-look-asus-p5q3-maximus-ii-formula/max2-8.jpg (bottom left)
It seems a bit out of place and seems to suggest there is a fan under there

edit:unless that just lights up I suppose

 

Annnd whaddayaknow, the memory slots are again so close to the PCI-e slot the memories can't be changed w/o removing the card.

But that's a small problem, it's still one hell of a beauty And most likely will perform accordingly..

 

Yea, it's backlit.

Jipa - they should come out, just pop one end and half on the other. It's because all these boards are trying to force 2 or 3 phase power regs in a small space.

 

That looks absolutely fantastic. Very tempting indeed.

 

I just hope the Maximus formula 2 will be less than 200£...

Asus should really get the memory slots further away from the pci-e x16 slot though.

 

That maximus formula 2 is something I want. I'd get rid of my striker in a heart beat.....but can't be bothered. It's a step in a good direction though, very impressed.

 

wow, now that Maximus2 is what motherboards should look like!

only problem though, is that how's Asus RoG board's fan controllers? i have now degraded to relay heavily on the Abit's uGuru fan controller, and i found my friend's P5K series fan controlling BIOS are basically no existence.

 

The new fan controllers from the Asus EPU 6-engine are excellent - there's tons of options to play with.

 

Beta bios is useful, but only if you can download them from Asus's website in less than a month.

 

Both of these boards look amazing. ASUS gets an A+ for aesthetics as usual. The feature set seems to be pretty damn nice as well. I can't help but sense an upgrade in my future...

 

Unfortunately the ICH10R southbridge comes with a TPM built in so buyers beware.

 

Love those little "start" and "reset" buttons.

 

That maximus is definitely beautiful! Seems odd to have such a great colour scheme for the heatsinks, then still use blue and white for the sockets. Would have looked better if the mem sockets were red and black and the PCI sockets were black and grey! The blue and white looks out of place...

Am I right in thinking that all P45 boards have their 16x slots as 16+1 or 8+8 only? Seems a waste of 16x slots but hey, chipset limitations...

Hopefully that heatsink style will be carried over to other boards with 2 PCIe at 16x phys, 16x elec!

 

There article at Toms Hardware in which Gigabyte said that ASUS's MoBo power consumption claims, among others, were blatant lies.